Machete 2010
Machete is a 2010 action comedy film co-written, produced, and directed by Robert Rodriguez and Ethan Maniquis. It is an expansion of a fake trailer that was released together with Rodriguez's and Tarantino's Planet Terror and Death Proof. The film also stars Robert De Niro, Jessica Alba, Don Johnson, Michelle Rodriguez, Steven Seagal and Lindsay Lohan, who filmed scenes for the film during the autumn of 2009. Cheech Marin and Jeff Fahey returned to portray their characters from the original trailer. The first screening took place on September 1, 2010, out of competition at the 67th Venice International Film Festival. Machete was then released in the United States by 20th Century Fox and Rodriguez' company, Troublemaker Studios, on September 3, 2010.6 Plot The story revolves around an illegal immigrant, Machete Cortez (Danny Trejo), a former Mexican Federale turned renegade. The film opens in Mexico with Machete on a mission to rescue a kidnapped girl. During the operation he crossed his corrupt Chief as well as the powerful drug lord, Rogelio Torrez (Steven Seagal) who kills Machete's wife and daughter, leaving him for dead thereafter. Three years later a down and out Machete roams Texas looking to do yard work in exchange for money. Michael Booth (Jeff Fahey), a local businessman and spin doctor, explains to Machete that the corrupt Senator McLaughlin (Robert De Niro) is sending hundreds of illegals out of the country. In order to stop this, Booth offers Machete $150,000 to kill McLaughlin. Machete accepts the murder contract after being threatened by Michael if he doesn't. While Machete is watching McLaughlin from a rooftop during a rally, he is double-crossed and one of Booth's henchmen shoots him and then shoots Senator McLaughlin in the leg. It is revealed that Booth orchestrated the entire attempted assassination as part of a false flag operation to gain public support for McLaughlin's campaign so that a more secure border is put in place. By setting up Machete as the gunman, the conspirators make it appear that an outlaw illegal Mexican immigrant has tried to assassinate the senator. An injured Machete escapes capture by Booth and is taken to a Mexican network hospital to be treated for wounds, escaping once again from Booth's henchmen at the hospital. Agent Sartana Rivera (Jessica Alba), a persistent U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent, is sent by her superior to find and capture the injured Machete. Machete, with the help of Luz (Michelle Rodriguez) recruits Padre (Cheech Marin), Machete's "holy" brother. To take revenge on Booth, Machete romances and then kidnaps Booth's wife and his daughter, April (Lindsay Lohan), who has a penchant for guns. He also collects evidence from Booth's house linking Senator McLaughlin and the Mexican drug lord in major drugs trafficking deal. After encountering Machete, Sartana begins to develop an interest in him. Booth kills Padre after finding Machete's hideout, but does not find his wife and daughter, and unbeknown to Booth the church has hidden cameras watching him. Through the recordings, the news of McLaughlin's corruption and faked assassination is eventually aired on national television. This causes McLaughlin to kill Booth out of anger and heads back to join Rogelio Torrez to kill Machete. In order to eliminate the people who double crossed him, Machete gathers the Mexican Network and leads them to the base of the border vigilantes, led by Von Jackson (Don Johnson). During this confrontation the Mexican immigrants triumph over the border vigilantes. Jackson is killed by a shot to the back of the head fired by Luz (who was lying in wait for him inside his jeep) while trying to escape the warzone and Machete fights Torrez, culminating with the drug lord committing seppuku with one of Machete's blades that he had just been stabbed with. Senator McLaughlin later runs and is killed by the last remnants of his own border vigilante group (led by the new recruit seen earlier in the film) who mistake him for a Mexican. The film ends with Machete being brought legal status papers by Sartana Rivera and riding off with her into the night. Before the credits roll, the announcer says that Machete will return in Machete Kills and Machete Kills Again. Cast *Danny Trejo as Machete Cortez, "a legendary ex-Federale with a deadly attitude and the skills to match."7 *Robert De Niro as Senator John McLaughlin, a politician campaigning to incite hatred against illegal immigrants. 8 *Jessica Alba as Sartana Rivera, "a beautiful Immigrations Officer torn between enforcing the law and doing what is popular in the eyes of her familia."7 *Michelle Rodriguez as Luz/Shé, "a taco-truck lady with a rebellious spirit and revolutionary heart."7 *Lindsay Lohan as April Booth/The Sister, "a socialite with a penchant for guns" and "a nun with a gun."9 *Jeff Fahey as Michael Booth, "a ruthless businessman with an endless payroll of killers."7 *Cheech Marin as Padre, Machete's brother, "a priest who's good with blessings, but better with guns."7 *Steven Seagal as Rogelio Torrez, a drug lord.10 *Don Johnson as Von Jackson, "a twisted border vigilante leading a small army."7 The character was originally known as "Lt. Stillman." *Shea Whigham as Sniper, Booth's first henchman. *Tom Savini as Osiris Amanpour, a hitman hired by Booth to kill Machete. *Felix Sabates as Doc Felix *Electra and Elise Avellan as Nurses Mona] and Lisa *Cheryl "Chin" Cunningham as Torrez' henchwoman12 *Daryl Sabara as Julio *Alicia Marek as June Booth, the socialite wife of Michael Booth and April's mother.12 *Ara Celi as Reporter *Tito Larriva as Culebra Cruzado Production 'Development' In an interview with Rolling Stone magazine, Rodriguez said that he wrote the screenplay back in 1993 when he cast Trejo in Desperado. "So I wrote him this idea of a federale from Mexico who gets hired to do hatchet jobs in the U.S. I had heard sometimes FBI or DEA have a really tough job that they don't want to get their own agents killed on, they'll hire an agent from Mexico to come do the job for $25,000. I thought, 'That's Machete. He would come and do a really dangerous job for a lot of money to him but for everyone else over here it's peanuts.' But I never got around to making it."15 Instead, during the filming of Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino's Grindhouse, Rodriguez shot lobby cards and sequences from parts of the original script in 2006 for a fake trailer featuring Danny Trejo, Cheech Marin, and Jeff Fahey. At South by Southwest in March 2007, Rodriguez announced that he would be expanding his trailer for Machete into a feature-length film.16 He announced that it would be a bonus feature on the Planet Terror DVD, but the film ended up being produced as a theatrical release.1617 During Comic-Con International 2008, he took the time to speak about Machete, including such topics as the film's status, possible sequels, and production priorities.18 It was also revealed that he has regularly pulled sequences from it for his other productions including Once Upon a Time in Mexico. 'Direction' Rodriguez had always planned on being the head-director of the film, since he usually uses his "one-man crew" technique. In April 2009, it was announced that Ethan Maniquis, who is a long-time editor of Rodriguez's films, would be co-directing the film with Rodriguez.1920 At the Comic-Con 2010 event in San Diego, Trejo commented on Rodriguez: "He's a genius. He's an absolute genius. He makes movie-making fun. You know, he makes you wanna go to work. A lot of people wake up saying 'I woke up before my alarm went off' just 'cause you're excited to work with him. You wonder 'what is he going to come up with today?', because every day, he's like inventing something new. So it's awesome to work with somebody like that."21 “Robert has an incredible vision and is very precise, and on his films you feel like you’re in the middle of something both big and experiential. And that anything is possible,” states Jeff Fahey, who has collaborated with Rodriguez on Machete and Grindhouse. 'Casting' The film's lead character had always been intended for Danny Trejo, as said by Rodriguez. The two had met during the filming of Rodriguez's film, Desperado. "Nobody really knew about ‘Desperado,’ yet the local townspeople would flock to see Danny, thinking he was the star of the movie, even though his part was very small,” Rodriguez remembers. “He has incredible presence, and I knew I had found MACHETE. So, I handed him a knife, and told him to start practicing.”14 Trejo, Cheech Marin, and Jeff Fahey were announced to be reprising their characters in the trailer for the film. Michelle Rodriguez was the first actor to be cast in the film who wasn't in the original trailer. Chris Cooper was approached for the role of Senator McLaughlin. He reportedly stated that the script was "the most absurd thing I've ever read."22 After Cooper turned down the role, Robert De Niro was cast instead. “From the point you get Robert De Niro in your movie, all the other actors come running," says Robert Rodriguez on De Niro's involvement in the film.23 "What I liked about the character was that it was a fun thing to do in a sense of irony and it's not taken seriously. He's not taken seriously on one level so that frees you to have fun without being weighted down by some requirements," says Robert De Niro on the role.24 Lindsay Lohan was revealed to be cast in the film in July 2009. "Lindsay's cool. There's actually a cool part in the movie for her if she takes it."25 Lohan portrays April Booth, the socialite daughter of Booth, the man who double-crosses Machete. “April was born into a life of privilege and takes everything she has for granted,” says Lohan. “But she undergoes a big change. As an actress, I like pushing the envelope.”23 Lohan recolored her hair from auburn red to platinum blonde.26 Jonah Hill was originally cast as Julio,27 but was replaced by Daryl Sabara, who had worked with Rodriguez, Marin, and Trejo on the set of the Spy Kids franchise. Jessica Alba said of her role of Agent Sartana, "My character is an Immigrations Officer and she hunts him (Machete) down and she finds out that he was double-crossed himself. She wrestles with her own right-wing kind of mentality because she's all about forcing the law and doing what the system tells you."28 Alba also portrays her character's twin sister.29 “The cast may have sounded bizarre to some people when first announced. But when you watch Machete, you see that the actors fit their roles very well. The eclectic mix really works. Danny’s worked in hundreds of movies and probably worked with everyone in Machete at some point. Everyone just loves Danny and appreciated the fact he was finally getting to be the star of his own film. I remember Robert De Niro, who worked with Danny in Heat telling him that, 'Machete is going to be really good for you.'”23 Regarding the nudity was present in the film, Rodriguez mentioned that he deliberately set the first scene with a nude woman (actress Mayra Leal) as that makes people think that subsequent scenes show more than they actually do.30 Jessica Alba mentioned that for her shower scene, "I had undies on, and I had other stuff on, and they just sort of etched it out in post production. That's not really me. I'm better covered up."31 'Filming' Filming for the fake trailer for Grindhouse began in the summer of 2006, while Rodriguez was also filming Planet Terror. The scenes that Rodriguez shot only consisted of scenes involving Danny Trejo, Cheech Marin, Jeff Fahey, and Tito Larriva. Some of the scenes filmed for the trailer were left intact in the film, while others have been re-shot. Principal photography began on July 29, 2009 in and around the city of Austin, Texas. Lindsay Lohan filmed her role in three days, two in August and one in September.32 On August 27, 2009, Rodriguez filmed a pseudo political rally at the Capitol building in Austin, Texas.33 Principal photography of the film ended on September 24, 2009. Release On July 28, 2010, it was confirmed that Machete would headline the Venice Film Festival held on September 1, 2010, at a special midnight screening, followed by the general theatrical release on September 3.3435 The film was released in the U.S. on September 3, 2010,36 by 20th Century Fox.37 The film appeared on 3,400 screens at 2,670 locations.38 The film was released in Australia on November 11, and in Mexico on November 12, 2010.[citation needed] 'Marketing' A fake trailer for the film was released on May 5, 2010, through Ain't It Cool News. The trailer opened with Danny Trejo saying, "This is Machete with a special Cinco de Mayo message to Arizona," followed by scenes of gunfire, bloodshed, and highlights of the cast.39 The fake trailer combined elements of the Machete trailer that appeared in Grindhouse with footage from the actual film,40 and implied that the film would be about Machete leading a revolt against anti-immigration politicians and border vigilantes.40 According to Fox News, critics of illegal immigration were offended by the contents of the movie trailer.41 Production of the film predates the legislation, however.39 Several film websites, including Internet Movie Database, reported that it was the official teaser for the film.40 However, Rodriguez later revealed the trailer to be a joke, explaining "it was Cinco de Mayo and I had too much tequila." The official theatrical trailer was released on July 8, 2010.40 It was then attached with Predators, which Rodriguez produced. It is also shown before The Expendables.40 A red band trailer featuring more gruesome scenes from the film was released on July 23, 2010.42 'Critical reception' The film has received mostly positive reviews. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 72% of critics have given the film a positive review, based on 163 reviews, with an average rating of 6.3 out of 10 giving the film a "certified fresh" rank. The site's general consensus is that, "Machete is messy, violent, shallow, and tasteless -- and that's precisely the point of one of the summer's most cartoonishly enjoyable films."43 Another aggregator, Metacritic, gave the film a "Mixed or average reviews" weighted mean score of 60, based on 29 reviews.44 'Box office' Machete opened in 2,670 theaters in the United States on September 345 and earned $14,102,888 for its four-day weekend, placing second at the box office behind The American.46 The film opened at #2 behind The American and took in $3,866,357—$1,448 per theater—on its opening day and $14,102,888—$4,001 per theater—on its opening weekend. Machete placed fourth at the box office by the end of the week after Resident Evil: Afterlife opened in theaters, totaling $20,916,709. Machete has made $26,593,646 in the United States as of December 4, 2010.4 The film has made an extra $11,038,073 in foreign markets, bringing the gross total of $37,631,719, as of December 4, 2010.47 'Home media' Rodriguez has expressed in an interview that a more violent director's cut will be released on home media.48 The R-rated theatrical version of Machete was released on DVD and Blu-ray on January 4, 2011. In the Blu-ray deleted scenes Rose McGowan is featured as one of Osiruses henchmen named 'Boots McCoy'. In other deleted scenes Jessica Alba is also playing the role of 'Sis'. (Sartanas twin sister) 'Sequel' According to Danny Trejo, Rodriguez is already done with the script for the first of two Machete sequels, titled Machete Kills. The title of the third film in the trilogy is tentatively titled Machete Kills Again.49 Both these titles appear in the end credits of the Blu-ray release. Gallery ﻿